


Letters

by Not_An_Alien



Series: Voltron Shorts [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cheesy, Feelings Realization, Gay Keith (Voltron), Love Letters, M/M, One Shot, Pining Lance (Voltron), Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 11:56:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17487605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_An_Alien/pseuds/Not_An_Alien
Summary: Lance set down the pencil on his desk and held his forehead in his hands. When did this become so difficult? Flirting and romance have always been his strong suit, but the very moment he realizes he's in love with the red paladin, he can't even form a sentence around the dude.Or: A short and sweet au where Lance tells Keith how he feels with a series of letters that he can't get the courage to give to Keith.





	Letters

Dear Keith,

Yo waddup?

God, that's a stupid opening. "Yo, waddup?" I'm an idiot, but I'm still writing things down because I know I probably won't end up giving it to you anyway. Let's just get to the point.

I like you.

I have for a while now. I've written tons of letters by now, but I haven't gotten the courage to give at least one to you. Forget about confessing to your face.

I guess it just shows who I am, huh? I'm a coward. I can't even tell a close friend how I really feel about him. God, I'm so weak.

-Lance

 

Lance set down the pencil on his desk and held his forehead in his hands. When did this become so difficult? Flirting and romance have always been his strong suit, but the very moment he realizes he's in love with the red paladin, he can't even form a sentence around the dude.

Frustrated, Lance shoved himself away from the desk (his chair had wheels so he could do that) and left his room to get a snack.

In the kitchen, Hunk was baking whatever new recipe he'd come up with. It didn't matter. Lance knew it would be delicious. When he saw Lance enter, Hunk stopped stirring whatever was in the bowl to greet his torn friend.

"Something up, dude?" Hunk asked as Lance sat in a seat on the opposite side of the counter.

"Nothing important," Lance said, resting his head on the countertop.

Hunk nodded. "Is this about Keith?"

"Maybe," Lance answered against the counter.

"Any progress?"

"No," Lance rotated his head so his chin was resting on the counter rather than his face. "God, Hunk. I'm useless. I flirt with girls all the time, but I can't even tell Keith that I like him."

"Well," Hunk said in an effort to comfort his friend, "when you flirt with girls, you aren't usually looking for a lasting relationship, and you've just met them. I mean, except Allura, but she doesn't respond to your flirting at all. Anyway, Keith is your friend, and he has been for a while now, whether you realized it or not. I'm also guessing that you'd be interested in a relationship lasting longer than a week with him?" Lance nodded. "Then that's probably why it's more difficult for you to tell him how you feel. To you, this isn't just some alien girl on another planet. This is Keith, your mulleted rival-turned-friend who you don't want to lose."

"You need to stop psychoanalysing me, Hunk," Lance said, then sat up in his seat, "and you really need to stop being right!"

"My point is," Hunk said, picking the bowl of batter back up and resuming stirring, "stop stressing about it for now, and maybe, one day, you'll be ready to tell him how you feel."

"You sure?" Lance asked.

"Absolutely," Hunk said with a genuine smile. "Now get out of my kitchen. You're getting my counter dirty."

~

A difficult mission.

That was what Allura said it would be. Keith was just about to enter his lion's hanger when someone stopped him.

"Hey, Keith?" Keith turned around to see Lance standing about ten feet away looking slightly nervous.

"Is something wrong, Lance?" Keith asked.

"N- no, nothing's wrong," Lance stuttered. "I just, well I, uh, I just wanted to tell you something before we went out there because it's, you know, a difficult mission and all."

"And what would that be?" Keith asked, noticing that Lance was fidgeting like crazy. Whatever it was, it must have been driving Lance crazy for him to be acting like this.

"Well, you see, I, uh," Lance started before a slightly sad expression of surrender and disappointment covered the nervousness. "Good luck out there, man."

"You too, Lance," Keith said, then he turned around to get into his lion. Keith wasn't an idiot though. He'd been reading people for years, and he knew one thing for certain.

That was not what Lance was going to say.

So what was he going to tell him?

~

"-ere's La-"

"Did he no-"

"-ance? Lance!"

"I foun-"

"-at happe-"

"-in a pod!"

"Lance?"

~

"Lance should be out of his pod by tomorrow," Coran announced. "He was very much injured though. He's lucky to be alive. He's extremely lucky that he's not in there 'til next year!"

Lance had been injured on the mission. Nobody knows how. All they knew was that one minute, Lance was being his usual self and goofing off on a mission, then the next, his comm cut off and nobody knew where he was.

Keith stared ahead at the pod now being occupied by the blue paladin. It was weird seeing him with his mouth shut. As thankful as Keith should have been for a day of quiet, he didn't like seeing Lance in such a weak state. He should have been laughing and making jokes about something that happened on the mission or flirting with Allura or something that was annoying, yet so completely Lance that Keith had eventually found it to be endearing rather than annoying. Not this. Lance should never have to be like this.

"Keith," Shiro said, pulling Keith from his thoughts, "I need you to go to Lance's room and get him some clothes to change into tomorrow."

"Okay," Keith said, forcing himself to look away from Lance so he could leave.

~

To Keith's surprise, Lance's room was not a mess. Instead, it was practically bare except for a desk with a wheelie chair across the room from his bed. On the desk, was a stack of neatly folded papers that were each addressed to Keith.

Interesting.

Keith picked the first one off the pile and started reading.

 

Dear Keith,

Does that sound too formal? Should I be more casual like: "Hey, man" or "What is up, my dude?" Never mind that sounds stupid.

 

Keith paused for a moment to laugh at how ridiculous that was. It was definitely something he could imagine Lance saying.

 

Anyway, I should probably tell you why I'm writing this letter. It's been on my mind for a while now, and I figured that I should probably tell you.

I like you.

 

Hold the phone.

Lance liked him? How? Since when? Keith was seriously getting the vibe that Lance hated his guts. This made literally no sense to him.

 

That feels good to get off my chest, but... I'm probably not going to end up giving you this letter. I'm really too much of a chicken to do that so goodbye for now.

-Lance

 

Keith checked the date on the letter.

Six. Months. Ago.

Lance had written a letter to Keith telling him how he felt six months ago, but didn't end up giving it to him because he was scared. Keith couldn't blame him though. He wasn't sure how he would have reacted to this six months earlier. He picked up the next letter and started reading.

He kept reading letter after letter. Some had poems, others just showered him in compliments. Then there were the few that just said "Dear Keith, I like you. -Lance" and that was it. 

Hours passed and Keith had gotten completely lost in Lance's letters. He never knew that the goofy sharpshooter could feel this way about anyone. Never mind Keith. Then, he reached the final letter in Lance's pile.

 

Dear Keith,

This is the last letter I will be writing because I've finally decided that I'm making no progress by writing them. Tomorrow before the mission, I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you what I should have told you months ago because I believe that I'm ready to tell you now.

Keith, I love you.

I love you more than you would know. There aren't enough words in the universe to explain how much I love your smile, your laugh, your eyes, your need to fight, your kindness, your daring, your compassion, and your hair (even if it is a mullet). I will never be able to fully explain how I much I love you, Keith Kogane.

It's alright if you don't feel the same way, but I figured that I should probably tell you before one of us gets hurt.

With love,

Lance McClain

~

Lance felt the healing pod open for him and he carefully stepped out, grabbing the side of the pod for support. According to the clock Pidge insisted be installed in the healing pod room, it was well past midnight so that explained why there wasn't anyone there to greet him when he got out. He probably got out early anyway.

Stretching, Lance left the room and started down the hallway to his room. When he got there, however, he noticed something off about it.

Quiznack, the letters were gone.

Frantically, Lance darted around his room, searching every possible place his letters to Keith could have gone. When he didn't find them, he returned to his desk and sat down in his wheelie chair to find a single folded paper sitting on the desk that quite literally had his name on it.

Hesitantly, Lance picked up the paper and unfolded it until he could read the words written in a familiar handwriting inside.

 

Dear Lance,

I really don't know what to say. I guess I just figured that if you used an entire pile of letters to tell me how you feel, I should tell you how I feel with at least one.

When we first met when we saved Shiro that one night, I hated you. You were loud, annoying, and arrogant. However, over the last couple months, I've been getting to know you more. I learned that you're selfless, caring, and a ton smarter than I originally thought you were. You are like a star in a way that you shine brighter than anyone else on our team. At the same time, you help keep us together through even the toughest of missions. I honestly don't think we would have gotten as far as we had if it weren't for you, Lance.

So that brings me to the conclusion of my letter that is way to short to tell you how I truly feel about you.

Lance, I love you, too.

I could be sitting here in your room for the rest of the night and still fail to express how much I really love you. I may have only realized it recently, but I know that I've loved you for a while now. I can't wait for you to get out of that pod so I can tell you to your face that I love you, Lance McClain.

Forever yours,

Keith Kogane

 

If Lance woke anyone up with the loud scream that came out of his mouth, it was Keith's fault.

**Author's Note:**

> I was halfway through writing this when I thought of what might happen if Lance had died on the mission, then Keith found the letters. Then I had another thought where Keith died on the mission and Lance realizes that he missed his chance to tell Keith how he feels. But then I realized that I didn't really feel like being evil today.


End file.
